Coffee and Kick Ass

Quick Hits: Injuries, Lil Nog to UFC & More

- The Ultimate Fighter 1 veteran Alex Karalexis has suffered an injury that will prevent him from fighting Anthony Pettis at the upcoming WEC: Cerrone vs. Henderson bout in Youngstown, Ohio. [WEC]

- Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos was forced to withdraw from his upcoming bout with former U.S. Special Forces operative Tim Kennedy after he suffered a knee injury while training for the September 25 bout. [The Fight Network]

- UFC Fight Night 19 took a hit today when lightweight Kyle Bradley was forced to withdraw from his bout with Sam Stout after suffering an injury during training. No replacement for Stout has been announced. [MMA Junkie]

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CKA for December 2, 2008

WEC 38 made official

WEC has announced that their next event following tomorrow night’s show will take place in San Diego on January 25, 2009. 

World Extreme Cagefighting® today announced that for the first event of 2009, the cage will head west to the hotbed of mixed martial arts - California - to hold the first ever WEC® event in San Diego. Two blockbuster matchups will lead the main card, with the World Lightweight Championship fight between Jamie Varner and undefeated Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone as the main event, and the mega-rematch pitting Urijah Faber against Jens Pulver in the co-main event.  World Extreme Cagefighting, featuring Varner vs. Cerrone and Faber vs. Pulver 2, takes place live from the San Diego Sports Arena on Sunday, January 25, 2009.

Aoki vs Alvarez on NYE?

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CKA for November 29, 2008

Antonio Silva to fight in Sengoku No Ran

World Victory Road announced Friday that heavyweight Antonio Silva is set to compete on the Sengoku No Ran show on January 4, 2009.  His opponent is scheduled to be Yoshihiro Nakao.  Silva, the current EliteXC heavyweight title holder, is currently under suspension in the US due to a failed steroid test in California.  Silva has disputed the results of the testing and since Japanese promotions are not compelled to honor suspensions in the US, he will compete here.  It may have long term effects on his obtaining licensure in the future in the US, but Vitor Belfort may have set a precendent by being allowed to compete after fighting in England while under steroid suspension.

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CKA for November 28, 2008

Gurgel, Sokoudjou among recent UFC cuts

Jorge Gurgel and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou are among the recent cuts from the UFC roster.  Both were involved in losses in their last fight within the octagon.

Gurgel never fails to give a wild performance, such as the one against Aaron Riley that garnered him Fight of the Night honors at UFC 91.  But more often than not, he has come out on the losing end, having lost three of his last 4 fights.  He has been widely criticized for not utilizing his BJJ Black Belt skills more and instead choosing to stand and trade with his opponents.  Gurgel will not be out of work long as he has already signed an exclusive contract with the Strikeforce promotion.  In the end, it would not surprise me if Zuffa didn’t help get him signed right away.  His time in the UFC was clearly up and yet he was a real favorite of Dana White’s.  A demotion to WEC would be seen as just that while also inadvertantly degrading the WEC’s lightweight class.

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CKA: July 8, 2008

The main bout of UFC 86, Forrest Griffin vs Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, is still the talk of the MMA world.

Sherdog weighs-in on the general displeasure of the decision and possible rematch, along with fighters’ opinions on who won the fight.  An official count wasn’t made, but giving it a casual read, it does seem that most think Griffin won the fight.

The number one reason for Griffin not winning - and notice it’s not written Jackson winning or even Griffin losing - is that “you have to beat the champ”, a quote from Jackson’s coach Juanito Ibarra, some fighters, and even readers of this site.  The concept is well understood, but scoring systems don’t change for championship fights and champions don’t get awarded bonus points (although we’ve all seen some fights where it seemed like they were).  The UFC does increase the number of rounds for a title fight, but that’s the lone rules change, and no scoring changes come along with that.  Dave Meltzer of Yahoo! Sports has similar thoughts.

Payouts

Griffin’s win made him the highest paid fighter of the night according to MMA Weekly.  The $150k win bonus helped him top former champ Rampage.  The two also were awarded fight of the night bonuses of $60k.  The third highest paid fighter wasn’t even on the main card.  Gabriel Gonzaga, who defeated Justin McCully on the preliminary card, received $100k with the win bonus.

Nogueira tests positive

MMA Weekly is reporting Alexandre “Pequeno” Nogueira has allegedly tested positive for the Boldenone according to the CSAC.

Kolohe to defend title Aug 2

Kala “Kolohe” Hose will defend his ICON middleweight title against Rolando Dominique in his home state of Hawaii on Aug 2.

Bosse to take on the Colossus

Former hockey enforcer Steve Bosse is scheduled to take on James “The Colossus” Thompson at TKO 35 on Oct 3 in Montreal.  Bosse’s last fight was a controversial win against Wes Sims, while Thompson was “that guy who fought Kimbo” at Elite XC’s initial CBS show.

Kicking a live horse

Our Cage Potato buds are already having fun with the UFC’s swat at Affliction’s Fedor card. 

CKA: July 2, 2008

With the upcoming UFC Light Heavyweight Championship match between Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin on tap for this weekend, some interesting tidbits from the UFC have started to surface.  Let’s get to them.

Franklin to 205?

Ever since being handled easily for a second time by middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, there has been speculation on what would be next for former champion Rich Franklin.  Many figured Rich would move to light heavyweight, a weight class he had competed in before, including in the UFC.  Our great friend Ariel Helwani at MMARated have disclosed that Rich will indeed be moving up.  But even more interesting is the bout set for him, that being Matt Hamill of TUF 3 fame. 

The bout is set for UFC 88 at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, GA on September 6, 2008.  It will likely be the co-main event just under the headline bout between Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans. 

Jesse Taylor is back

Continuing on the rumored matchups, it appears that Jesse Taylor’s firing from the Ultimate Fighter will not be for long.  MMAJunkie has confirmed with both fight camps that Taylor will face the man who replaced him in the TUF 7 Finale fight, CB Dollaway,  The fight will take place at this months UFN 14 card, set to broadcast live on SpikeTV on July 19, 2008. 

Taylor gained a good deal of press for all the wrong reasons when he became the first TUF finalist to be thrown off the show after he qualified for the Finale.  Taylor, in a drunken stupor, was seen via video tape kicking the window out of a limo and being verbally combative in various Las Vegas casinos via security video.  UFC President Dana White threw Taylor off the show after the completion of tapings.  Semi final losers CB Dollaway and Tim Credeur then fought with Dollaway advancing to the finals where he lost to Amir Sadollah for a second time. 

This card is significant in that it is being televised in direct competition to the Affliction PPV card featuring Fedor Emelianenko vs Tim Sylvia.  At this point the UFN 14 card look like this:

Main Card
Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin
Frankie Edgar vs. Hermes Franca
Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy
Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns

Preliminary Bouts:
Jake O’Brien vs. Cain Velasquez
Brad Blackburn vs. James Giboo
Rory Markham vs. Brodie Farber
Dale Hartt vs. Shannon Gugerty
Nate Loughran vs. Johnny Rees
Jesse Taylor vs. C.B. Dollaway

CKA: June 25, 2008

A couple of quick notes from a relatively slow week:

- Nick Diaz will be fighting Thomas Denny on the next CBS EliteXC event (July 26).  Let me translate that to how everyone reads it: Diaz isn’t fighting KJ Noons, or even Hayato Sakurai, and that’s just disappointing.

- We’ll probably see Dan Henderson vs Rousimar Palhares at UFC 88 (Sep 6).  The fight will be at 185, instead of Henderson’s prefered 205.  Six of eight of Palhares’ wins have come by submission, including the Submission of the Night at UFC 84 over Ivan Salaverry.  It should be a good card with Chuck Liddell vs TUF 2 champ Rashad Evans.

CKA: June 2, 2008

Kaitlin Young: Commissioner stopped fight, not doctor

On Saturday night, Kaitlin Young put on a great performance against Gina Carano in EliteXC Primetime debut on CBS.  The fight was stopped between the second and third rounds and it was announced that the ringside doctor had recommended the stoppage.  In a post to the FighterGirls website, Kaitlin Young disagrees, giving a detailed perspective of how the fight was stopped and raising an interesting accusation.

My left cheek and area surrounding the eye are looking pretty ugly today, but there was no major damage. Though it may have looked like it on tv, I never actually had an open wound.

What you didn’t see was that the doctor actually cleared me to fight the third round but the commission said “no”. I wanted to continue, my corner wanted to continue. The cut likely would have opened in the third but it was under the eye. If I had to guess, I would say that they didn’t want the visual of a woman with a bloody face on CBS.

They also chose not to do a post fight interview with me or to include me in the post fight news conference and after party. I think the reason for that was my beat up appearance after the fight because I was not seriously injured and was completely coherent.

I am very disappointed about that but cant help but wonder how people would have responded to that, as stupid as it is.

She continues here.

Yeah, I have to agree. I think if people were shocked or upset by the look of it they may have been put at ease a bit by seeing that I was okay. I think some people probably assumed the worst because I basically disappeared from the camera after the fight.

I’m not trying to be one of those people “Well, I would have won if they had let it go into the third round so it wasn’t my fault. Yada yada yada….” Gina was obviously getting the better of me at that point in the fight, but I wasn’t ready to be done. It really bothers me that I didn’t get a chance to thank my sponsors and all that jazz.

Sounds pretty fishy.  When the fight was stopped, they had a close up of Kaitlin’s face.  I said right away that fight would not have been stopped if it was a male.  Apparently, there may have been a good amount of truth to it.  And shame on EliteXC for not even allowing Kaitlin to attend the post fight press conference.

More Fallout from EliteXC Primetime

Our friends at MMARated have posted a video from the post fight press conference featuring EliteXC President of Live Events Gary Shaw and heavyweight James Thompson.  In a comical moment, Gary Shaw relays the fact that thompson was having difficulties breathing and was being transported to the hospital.  Shaw then asks for everyone’s prayers for Thompson.  Meanwhile, Thompson is standing in the middle of the press conference drinking a bottle of water!  Check out the video after the jump.

 

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CKA: May 28, 2008

Former WEC light heavyweight champion Doug Marshall has reportedly signed a one-fight contract with the California-based Palace Fighting Championship and will fight at the promotion’s next scheduled event on July 18th according to the to the Visalia Times-Delta. Five Ounces of Pain was the first to make the find.

PFC President Christian Printup stated in the article that Marshall remains under contract with Zuffa and was given permission to seek a fight in a smaller show to help bounce back from his recent knockout loss to Brian Stann in March, a loss that cost Marshall his title with the organization.

The fight in July will be Marshall’s first career bout outside the confines of World Extreme Cagefighting.

Burns to Replace Chonan at UFC 85

Iowa native Kevin Burns has been tapped to replace longtime PRIDE and DEEP veteran Ryo Chonan in his scheduled welterweight preliminary fight against Roan Carneiro at UFC 85: Bedlam next weekend in London, England according to our friends at MMA Junkie.

While the reason being Chonan’s withdrawal from the card are currently unknown, sources close to Burns have confirmed that the Glory Fighting Championships veteran has agreed to come in as a late replacement on the card.

Burns is currently riding a two-fight winning streak. He has won his last two fights by way of submission, most recently forcing Steve Schneider to tap out courtesy of a triangle choke in December of last year.

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CKA: May 14, 2008

Kenny Florian will reportedly serve as the temporary host of ESPN’s newly-planned online mixed martial arts magazine show that will appear exclusively on the company’s official website and on mobile phones according to Adam Swift of MMA Payout.

According to Swift, Florian will serve as the show’s host at least for the first two weeks of tapings. However it’s unknown whether the show will be UFC-based, something that apparently delayed the launch of the program, or if it will cover the entire world of the sport.

Affliction-HDNet Deal Still Possible

While it was previously reported that a potential deal between Affliction and HDNet that would have the clothing brand hold it’s first MMA show at the Dallas-based American Airlines Center fell apart, HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon says that the event could still possibly be televised on the digital cable network.

According to MMA Weekly, the event would not be permitted to take place at the home of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks due to a lack of time to substantially promote the show. However the potential of at least part of the event airing live or on tape-delay on HDNet is not out of the realm of possibility.

“We talk to everybody and I wouldn’t say that any conversation is dead yet,” Simon said in the report. “You just never know. You know how this sport works, one day you think you’re not working together and the next day you might announce something. Affliction… I would say, never say never.

ASU Shuts Down Storied Wrestling Program

Arizona State University has decided to shut down it’s storied wrestling program along with men’s swimming and men’s tennis as part of a financial cutback at the school according to MMA Weekly.

Normally this wouldn’t be the type of news to be reported on this site, but the school’s wrestling program has produced a slew of highly-touted MMA prospects in recent years, including current UFC fighters Cain Velasquez and C.B. Dollaway. Shoe-in hall-of-famers Dan Severn, Don Frye, and Dan Henderson all competed for the school as well in the past.

There may still be hope for the program. NCAA President Myles Brand is expected to hold a meeting later this month to discuss the possibility of protecting school sports that also take place in the Olympics, wrestling being one of them.

Bush Tests Positive for Marijuana

Heavyweight prospect George Bush has reportedly tested positive for marijuana following his first-round tournament loss to former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez at YAMMA Pit Fighting’s inaugural show last month in Atlantic City, New Jersey according to Sherdog.com.

“I just found out a few days ago, and needless to say, I’m very surprised and disappointed,” Bush said in the report. “I accept full responsibility for my actions, and I assure the fans that this will never happen again.”

While there won’t be any official announcement from the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board, (they don’t release drug-testing information to the media) Bush has confirmed that he has not been fined but has been suspended by the commission for 90 days.